Police in the Volta Region have lauded the introduction of the Case Tracking System (CTS) in the justice delivery system of the country. They say it has eased their work.
Speaking at a sensitization workshop in the Volta Regional capital, Ho on the CTS, Superintendent Asamani said the technology was crucial to improving Ghana’s justice delivery system so any hitch that will impede the smooth utilization of the technology should be resolved. This he said will encourage other stakeholders that are reluctant to utilize the CTS to also make use of it.
“The CTS makes the location of case dockets easier and simpler by the supervisors in the region and it saves time and put a stop to traveling to stations for docket inspections,” he said.
“Some of the districts such as Sogakope, Kpando, Juapong, Kpetoe, and Golokuati have routers but cannot access the internet. Huawei was initially brought to the region by the Bureau of National Communication but it did not function well. It was replaced with routers and again when it was connected to the laptops the strength of the internet was weak for the transfer of information,” he lamented.
Enumerating some other challenges, Mr. Asamani called for periodic update of the software and training of personnel to be acquainted with the system. He also suggested that the police training school should incorporate it in their curriculum so that new recruits will find it easy when using it.
Superintendent Asamani further stated that until the challenges are resolved, ‘the old manual system should run alongside the CTS until access to the internet becomes stable and reliable.’
A Rule of Law Specialist with the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), Enoch Jengre said his outfit and other partnering implementers of the JSSA, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), and Crime Check Foundation (CCF) are keenly monitoring the progress of the CTS.
He commended the Volta Region for its high use of the CTS and urged other regions to emulate. “The data actually shows a little over 2,000 cases imputed into the CTS in the Volta Region and when you strike the comparative analyses with other regions, you will realize that the keyed numbers from other regions are very low. The regions that have internet challenges can alternatively use the offline version,” he said.
The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist of the project, Samuel Fant Kombian, assured users of the CTS that the challenges facing the technology’s effective usage will be addressed for a smooth implementation.
“We had engagements with the internet providers to make sure that, the issues of internet and other challenges are addressed going forward,” he said.
USAID Justice Sector Support Activity
The USAID Justice Sector Support Activity is an intervention that seeks to reinforce efforts by the US Government to enhance Ghana’s justice delivery system by increasing Citizen Oversight and Monitoring of Criminal Cases, increasing citizen knowledge and access to Justice Sector services, and strengthening advocacy for accountability of key justice sector institutions for improved justice delivery in Ghana.
